As natural pollinators, Cambodia’s native honey bees are key to the survival of the country’s forests and farms. But these species are at a conservation crossroads, warns a recent study that foreshadows the risks of leaving growing threats unaddressed. Based on field research across Cambodia, as well as dozens of interviews with honey hunters, farmers and beekeepers, Eric Guerin, lead author of the study, told Mongabay he has no doubt native bee populations are declining. Thankfully, he said, species are not yet at risk of extinction. “If we continue in the same way, we may lose local populations of our native species. Though there is still time to change that. The bees are still here and the population could for sure recover,” said Guerin, a bee conservation and sustainable beekeeping specialist. “But that depends on us.” An Asian giant honeybee (Apis dorsata) worker bee, one of four native honey bee species in Cambodia, where global threats like climate change are compounded by local factors like the consumption of bee brood. Image courtesy of Eric Guerin. While a nationwide bee population survey hasn’t been conducted in Cambodia, the study underlines how the kingdom’s four native honey bee species are increasingly at risk. Threats like climate change, insecticides and parasites that are decimating bee populations globally are compounded locally by habitat loss, agricultural intensification, unsustainable wild honey gathering, and the consumption of bee brood (eggs, larvae and pupae), a protein-rich delicacy in high demand in Cambodia. As most of the world’s honey…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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